In such a hurry?
Tertsky. It is as if the earth had swallowed him.
He had scarce left thee, when I went to seek him.
I wished some words with him — but he was gone. 5
How, when, and where, could no one tell me. Nay,
I half believe it was the devil himself;
A human creature could not so at once
Have vanished.
Illo (enters). Is it true that thou wilt send
Octavio?
Tertsky. How, Octavio! Whither send him? 10
Wallenstein. He goes to Frauenberg, and will lead hither
The Spanish and Italian regiments.
Illo. No!
Nay, Heaven forbid!
Wallenstein. And why should Heaven forbid?
Illo. Him! — that deceiver! Would’st thou trust to him
The soldiery? Him wilt thou let slip from thee, 15
Now, in the very instant that decides us ——
Tertsky. Thou wilt not do this! — No! I pray thee, no!
Wallenstein. Ye are whimsical.
Illo. O but for this time, Duke,
Yield to our warning! Let him not depart.
Wallenstein. And why should I not trust him only this time, 20
Who have always trusted him? What, then, has happened,
That I should lose my good opinion of him?
In complaisance to your whims, not my own,
I must, forsooth, give up a rooted judgment.
Think not I am a woman. Having trusted him 25
E’en till to-day, to-day too will I trust him.
Tertsky. Must it be he — he only? Send another.
Wallenstein. It must be he, whom I myself have chosen;
He is well fitted for the business. Therefore
I gave it him.
Illo. Because he’s an Italian — 30
Therefore is he well fitted for the business.
Wallenstein. I know you love them not — nor sire nor son —
Because that I esteem them, love them — visibly
Esteem them, love them more than you and others,
E’en as they merit. Therefore are they eye-blights, 35
Thorns in your footpath. But your jealousies,
In what affect they me or my concerns?
Are they the worse to me because you hate them?
Love or hate one another as you will,
I leave to each man his own moods and likings; 40
Yet know the worth of each of you to me.
Illo. Von Questenberg, while he was here, was always
Lurking about with this Octavio.
Wallenstein. It happened with my knowledge and permission.
Illo. I know that secret messengers came to him 45
From Galas ——
Wallenstein. That’s not true.
Illo. O thou art blind
With thy deep-seeing eyes.
Wallenstein. Thou wilt not shake
My faith for me — my faith, which founds itself
On the profoundest science. If ‘tis false,
Then the whole science of the stars is false. 50
For know, I have a pledge from fate itself,
That he is the most faithful of my friends.
Illo. Hast thou a pledge, that this pledge is not false?
Wallenstein. There exist moments in the life of man,
When he is nearer the great soul of the world 55
Than is man’s custom, and possesses freely
The power of questioning his destiny:
And such a moment ‘twas, when in the night
Before the action in the plains of Lützen,
Leaning against a tree, thoughts crowding thoughts, 60
I looked out far upon the ominous plain.
My whole life, past and future, in this moment
Before my mind’s eye glided in procession,
And to the destiny of the next morning
The spirit, filled with anxious presentiment, 65
Did knit the most removed futurity.
Then said I also to myself, ‘So many
Dost thou command. They follow all thy stars,
And as on some great number set their All
Upon thy single head, and only man 70
The vessel of thy fortune. Yet a day
Will come, when destiny shall once more scatter
All these in many a several direction:
Few be they who will stand out faithful to thee.’
I yearn’d to know which one was faithfullest 75
Of all, this camp included. Great Destiny,
Give me a sign! And he shall be the man,
Who, on the approaching morning, comes the first
To meet me with a token of his love:
And thinking this, I fell into a slumber. 80
Then midmost in the battle was I led
